Bound By Marriage(8)

Fury prompted her reply. "He's been my friend for almost as long as I've  been alive. Did it occur to you that maybe he wanted to talk to me  about what's going on in his life?" She pushed aside the memory of Damon  saying he never wanted to let her go, because that did make her feel  guilty.

"I don't care what the hell he wanted to talk about." Gabe folded his  own arms, a solid wall of dominance. "There'll be no more private chats  between the two of you."

"You're my husband, not my keeper!"

"I shouldn't need to be your keeper. Or do you think it's perfectly  acceptable to throw yourself into the arms of your would-be lover?"

"You're twisting everything around!" When she'd hugged Damon, it had  been out of the most innocent kind of happiness. But Gabe was making it  sound sordid, making her question her every action, her every word.

His jaw was granite, his next statement icy cold. "I swear to God, Jess,  if you try to cheat on me with that useless excuse for a man, I'll  divorce you so fast your head will spin. And then I'll accept the  developers' offer-they haven't lost interest."

She felt the blood leach out from under her skin. "You wouldn't." Even Gabe wouldn't be so cruel. "I've given you everything."

He scoffed. "You signed on for life, not one quick tumble in my bed. If  that was what I'd wanted, I could've gotten it much cheaper and from  someone far more experienced than you, sweetheart."

The verbal slap hit so hard she couldn't find her voice.

"Your land has no real value to me in terms of this operation," he  continued. "I bought it to seal our deal and I can get rid of it as  easily if you can't do your job as my wife. Think about that the next  time you have an urge to meet your friend." He left without giving her  the chance to reply. Though what she would have said, she didn't know.

Collapsing into the chair, she cradled her head in her hands. But that  didn't stop her mind from spinning into chaos. Gabe's threat had shocked  her, making it viciously clear that her new husband trusted her about  as much as he'd trust an alley cat. Still, she couldn't believe he'd  taunted her with what he knew to be her greatest vulnerability.

The idea of her parents' legacy being razed for what the developers had  called a retreat for the rich and famous, complete with swimming pool,  tennis courts and a golf course, was her personal nightmare. They would  destroy the beauty of everything her parents had worked so hard to  achieve, an insult to their memory she simply couldn't bear. Unlike  Gabriel, she cherished those memories. They were all she had left.

"Jess?"

Mrs. Croft's voice startled her into dropping her hands. "What is it?"

The older woman took in Jess's expression with concerned eyes but didn't  ask any questions. "You've got a call." She handed over the portable  phone.

"Thanks." Jess was about to answer when Mrs. C. made a gesture that had her placing a hand over the mouthpiece.

"You made your choice when you said your vows, my girl. Don't be looking  back now." With that advice, the other woman walked back inside the  house.

Defeated by this evidence of yet another person who found it easy to believe she'd be unfaithful, Jess said a quiet, "Hello."

"You alone, Jessie?"





Chapter 5





Her hand froze around the receiver. "Do you have a death wish, Damon? If Gabe had picked up the phone-"

"I would have hung up. No big deal." He laughed but there was a bitter undertone to it she'd never before heard from him.

"Why are you calling?"

"I told you I wanted to talk to you." A small pause. "You're still my friend, aren't you?"

Her heart softened. "Of course I am."

"Even if he says no?"

"Don't go there." Gabriel was the one topic she'd never discuss with Damon.

"What's this I'm hearing about you and Kayla?" she asked instead, trying to be his friend.

The pause was longer this time. "We're done. I told you I should've never married her in the first place."                       
       
           



       

"Damon," she began, but he was already speaking.

"I told you and you went ahead and married that bast-" He cut himself off before she could. "I don't love her anymore."

"You don't mean that." And yet part of her, a part she didn't  particularly like, hoped that he did. She'd held that secret hope ever  since Kayla's car had broken down in Kowhai two years ago, and the  beautiful brunette and Damon had become a couple almost overnight.

"You know who I should've married, don't you?" His voice lowered, became huskier.

She should have disconnected then and there but she didn't, overwhelmed  by a need that had been years in the making. Because even in that single

long-distance phone call, he hadn't said what she most needed to hear.

What she couldn't even let herself think, much less admit, was that she was acting this way out of anger at Gabriel.

"You, Jess. I should've married you."

She pressed the end button with fingers that wouldn't stop trembling.  She hated herself for having allowed Damon to go on, loathed the need in  her that had turned her into the worst kind of hypocrite. Because while  she might not have crossed the physical line into disloyalty, she'd  inarguably crossed an emotional one.

The phone jangled to life again so suddenly she almost dropped it. "Hello?" A wary question.

The caller turned out to be Merri Tanner, a neighbor. Relieved, Jess  chatted with her for a minute or two before Merri said, "We're having a  bit of a barbecue tonight if you feel up to coming. Around sevenish.  It's a busy time but we figured folks could use the chance to blow off  some steam."

A social buffer between her and Gabe was precisely what she needed today. "Sure.

Sounds fun." Hanging up after another few minutes, she stared out at the  land in front of her. So strong, so enduring and capable of causing  such pain to the human heart.

Tempting as it was to ask someone else to take a message about the  barbecue to Gabe, that would have been cowardly. And her self-respect  had already plunged to new depths after Damon's call. Putting the phone  on the chair, she went to find her husband.

When guilt threatened to deprive her of her confidence, she fought it by  nurturing her anger at Gabe's cruel threat, refining it, making it  razor sharp.

She would not give Gabriel Dumont the chance to use that indomitable will of his to crush her.

She located him talking to the foreman. He broke off his conversation  when she caught his eye. "What is it?" There was no trace of anger in  his voice. There was, in fact, no trace of any emotion.

"Merri's invited us over for a barbecue. Around seven." She folded her arms. "I said we'd come."

"Fine." He reached out to tap her cheek with his index finger and the  touch was so unexpectedly gentle, she didn't know how to react. "Must've  been a long phone call-your skin's red here."

Jerking away, she wondered if he could read the guilt in her eyes.  Because this time, she had done something she wasn't proud of. But even  that didn't excuse the things he'd said to her and she wasn't going to  pretend otherwise. "Drop the act, Gabe. You feel more tenderness toward  your bank balance than toward me."

Something changed in his expression, became harder. "Good thing isn't  it? If I didn't have that bank balance, you'd have been left high and  dry." Giving her a grim smile, he went back to his interrupted  conversation with Jim.

Jess grit her teeth and told herself not to care. Easier said than done.  The fact that he was right just rubbed salt into her wounds. She was no  gold-digger but she'd needed what Gabe's money could do. If money  hadn't been a factor, she'd never have made this devil's bargain. But  she had. And now she had to pay the price.

Leaving the barn before she said something she shouldn't, she headed to  the house and decided to make a salad for the barbecue. Since the food  preparation distracted her, at least for a little while, she baked a  marble cake as well.

By the time five-thirty rolled around, everything was ready to go and so  was she. She'd chosen her clothes with care, needing to feel good about  herself-a calf-length wool skirt and white angora sweater teamed with  her favorite knee-high leather boots.

Gabe hadn't said a word upon entering the kitchen, where she was putting  everything into a picnic basket. But now he fingered the damp strands  of her hair. "I think I'll get you to leave the boots on tonight."

She knew he was being deliberately provocative in response to her cool  attitude, but her treacherous body wanted to shiver at the implied  eroticism. Pulling away, she put several feet of distance between them.